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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29459640">Jump off the Roof</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaito_Dragneel/pseuds/Kaito_Dragneel'>Kaito_Dragneel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Soft Wars Fanfiction [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Ink doesn’t understand that, Ink isn’t healthy, Ink’s been adopted and doesn’t know, Language Barrier, M/M, Neyo worries, Suicidal Thoughts, everyone knows and worries</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:55:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,419</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29459640</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaito_Dragneel/pseuds/Kaito_Dragneel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>People cared. He didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he was gonna jump off a roof or stick a blaster in his mouth and call it day. Even if there were days where he thought long and hard about it. It would take too much effort to do that...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mentioned Ink/Faie/Hit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Soft Wars Fanfiction [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1725040</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Jump off the Roof</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>There were days that Ink wanted nothing to do with everyone or anything for that matter. He didn’t know if it was because he’d been living in a high stakes, always moving, always dodging, always blasting type of life style for the entirety of his life up until now, but…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ever since they got to Concord Dawn… his life has been… upside down. He didn’t know how to talk to some people, didn’t know how to interact with some brothers. He felt… left behind. Jango has trained him to survive and nothing more, and when Jango wasn’t training him, Priest was putting him against Neyo or Faie or some other trooper. He didn’t know mando’a, didn’t know most customs that the vode had picked up. His battalion. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wisp battalion</span>
  </em>
  <span>, was in the dark when it came to that. Ink was left behind in all of that. Not on purpose though, by sheer horrible horrible luck. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This sense of… he couldn’t even describe it… it clawed at his ribs and tore at his heart. In his short 13 years of life, he’d never felt that type of pain. Not when Krell killed and abused his troops or beat and abused him. Not when he lost poor shinies on the battlefield who hadn’t even gotten their name or paint. It was a sickening feeling, and he hated it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You gonna come down from there, vod’ika? Or do I need to climb up there to get you?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Another thing Ink missed out on. Being someone’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>vod’ika</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He learned that word from Cody. Vod’ika, little brother. He’d known Neyo since before he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Ink</span>
  </em>
  <span>, known him since he entered the command track. Of course, knowing him didn’t mean they were close. Sure, he was closer to Neyo than he was to any of the other CT Captains, but… they weren’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>friends</span>
  </em>
  <span>. At least he didn’t think they were.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Vod’ika don’t be stubborn.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ink snorted, ignoring the Valor commander, pulling his knees up to his chest so that his feet weren’t dangling over the edge of the roof of his house. The house he shared with his husband and… and Faie. Why was Neyo even here? Faie wasn’t here, and Neyo didn’t really know Hit, so there was no reason for Neyo to come by their house. So what, Ink trained under Priest for a bit. It wasn’t like he was under the same stress Faie and Neyo were. It wasn’t like he and Neyo had </span>
  <em>
    <span>bonded </span>
  </em>
  <span>over that. Hell, Neyo had barely recognized him after they met after deployment.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ink laid his chin over the top of his knees, eyeing the sun slowly setting over the horizon. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The sunset was always beautiful, it gave off a warm sort of feeling, even though the temperature dropped when nightfall hit. The glare off the beach to his right was soothing to look at too. It helped soothe that ache in his chest that appeared every once in a while. Allowed him to think through his thoughts instead of just letting them brew. He’d done that over the years when working under Krell. Overkill worried about him. Hell, even Void worried, and the ARC Trooper wasn’t really known for his social tact. He didn’t know </span>
  <em>
    <span>why</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It wasn’t like he was gonna jump off a roof or stick a blaster in his mouth and call it day. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Even if there were days where he thought long and hard about it</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It would take too much effort to do that, and he’d rather not cause more harm by doing that to Hit or Faie. Hit… Faie… his two loves. Well, one was his love, the other, they were still learning from each other.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The wind blew just a little, cooling him down from the summer heat as the sun set. Maybe they could go surfing tomorrow. Faie seemed to enjoy the water more when there were no clouds in the sky. Hit chose a perfect spot for their house. The 212th pilot always seemed to be able to pick things out that fit both his and Faie’s… aesthetic. His husband was too sweet for his own good, honestly Ink worried that he would get taken-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, vod’ika, mind talking me through what’s going on in that head of yours?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ink cursed, eyes flying wide as he jumped. That curse molded in to a squeak as he nearly fell forward, an arm wrapping around his middle and pullinghim back from the ledge of the roof. Ink turned his head, golden eyes wide as he stared back at Neyo. When the hell did he even get up here? The former captain turned his head back around, staring over the edge of the roof. </span>
  <em>
    <span>So far off the ground</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He could picture what would have happened if he had slipped. If Neyo hadn’t grabbed his waist. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn’t sure why that picture didn’t scare him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Talk to me,” Neyo said into the back of his neck.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Talk to me</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Like it was that easy. Yeah right. Ink moved to try and struggle his way out of the hold around his waist only to feel Neyo tighten it and knock his forehead against the back of his neck. His chest </span>
  <em>
    <span>burned</span>
  </em>
  <span>, a flame igniting in his ribs, aching and bleeding. Ink didn’t know what it was. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why should I,” Ink hissed softly, all the hostility he could muster up at the moment targeted at Neyo.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Whether or not if it affected him, Ink couldn’t really tell from this angle. There was a huff of amusement behind him though.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I like the other CTs, at least they’re nice to me,” Neyo huffed against the back of Ink’s neck, the breathe hot and soft, sending a shiver down Ink’s spine.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“If you wanted someone </span>
  <em>
    <span>nice</span>
  </em>
  <span> then you should have left me </span>
  <em>
    <span>alone—</span>
  </em>
  <span>“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The venom in Ink’s words evaporates when Neyo shifts them just enough to knock his head against his. The position. A perpendicular Keldabe. A mandalorian kiss, one that can be platonic or more than that. That was the definition Cody had given him when he had asked the Vod’alor on the subject the night he pledged. Why was… what was Neyo doing?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Neyo?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You drift a lot. Get stuck in your own head and pretend that you’re fine,” Neyo said, like it was the answer to all Ink’s questions, which was far from the truth and only gave Ink more questions. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So, he liked to think a lot. What was the issue? He didn’t understand. Ink swallowed as he focused on the worried ball of pain and anger that was Neyo’s force signature, confused.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The silence was stretched thin. Tense, sad even, like Neyo knew something that Ink didn’t. He probably did. This was probably something deeper that he didn’t understand because he was missing the key components most had.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why do you care,” Ink asked after a long moment of gathering his words, working his jaw.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Because you’re one of ours, and we get that adjusting hasn’t been… </span>
  <em>
    <span>easy</span>
  </em>
  <span> on you,” Neyo replied, his words careful and slow, like he was trying to be cautious with how he worded the explanation.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Easy on you. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Were Ink cruel, he might have whipped around and snarled at Neyo at the suggestion and made a dig at Neyo’s own struggles as adjusting. However, despite what the rumors may say, he was not cruel. So, he cooled the anger that had boiled up, and chose his next words carefully.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why are you </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Neyo?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m here to watch the sunset, but you can stick around if you want,” Neyo deflected easily, pulling back from the embrace and settling in.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ink blinked. Once. Then twice. And then it hit him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You just came up here to </span>
  <em>
    <span>bug me for attention</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Ink hissed, seething in annoyance.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That was a half truth. He didn’t know the real motivation Neyo had for coming to find him, but he knew that the attention was a sliver of it. He could worry about his brother’s concern over his well-being later. Right now he was being robbed of his alone time and he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>aggravated </span>
  </em>
  <span>because of it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“If I wanted attention I would have just yanked you down. Now shush, I wanna watch the sunset.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Leave my chill spot</span>
  </em>
  <span>, before I fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>strangle </span>
  </em>
  <span>you and leave Vaughn to </span>
  <em>
    <span>hang you by your entrails</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Ink snarled lightly, his haunches raising as he flung himself at Neyo in a tackle.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oi! No fighting on the roof! Hey! Be nice to me!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Never.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
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